Chap. 222.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4987-f of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, relating to the jurisdiction of trial justices. [S B 85]

Approved March 16, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section forty-nine hundred and eighty-seven-f of the Code of Virginia,
as heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

Section 4987-f. Jurisdiction—The jurisdiction of such trial
justice shall be as follows:

(1) The trial justice shall be a conservator of the peace within
the limits of the territory for which he is appointed. For the pur-
pose of this section the term ‘‘territory for which he is appointed’”’
shall mean the county or counties, including towns therein, and any
city or cities for which he is appointed trial justice.

(2) The trial justice shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of
all offenses against the ordinances, laws and by-laws of the respective
counties, cities and towns for which he is appointed and of all mis-
demeanors, except offenses of which jurisdiction is specifically vested
in the State Corporation Commission, arising under laws of the
Commonwealth. There shall be an appeal of right to the circuit
court of the county or the corporation court of the city as provided
for by the general laws with reference to appeals from justices of the
peace. There shall also be an appeal of right to the circuit court of
the county or corporation court of the city from any order or judg-
ment of a trial justice forfeiting any recognizance or revoking any
suspension of sentence formerly entered by such trial justice. Not-
withstanding the provisions of this subsection, the circuit court of
any county or the corporation court of any city shall have jurisdiction
to try any person for any misdemeanor for which such person shall
be indicted, or may certify such indictment to the trial justice for
trial in which latter case, the indictment shall be in lieu of any war-
rant, petition, or other pleading constituting the charge which might
otherwise have been required by law. The trial justice shall also have
power to conduct preliminary examinations of persons charged with
crime in the manner prescribed for justices of the peace by chapter
one hundred and ninety-two of the Code. Trial justice shall have
the power to accept fines and costs within ten days if any defendant
decides to withdraw an appeal which has been noted.

(3) The trial justice shall have, within the limits of the territory
for which he is appointed, exclusive original jurisdiction of any claim
to specific personal property or to any debt, fine, or other money, or
to damages for breach of contract or for any injury done to property,
real and personal, or for any injury to the person, which would be re-
coverable by action at law or suit in equity, when the amount of such
claim does not exceed the sum of two hundred dollars, and concurrent
jurisdiction with the circuit court of the county or the city court or
courts of general jurisdiction, as the case may be, of any such claim
when the amount thereof exceeds two hundred dollars but does not
exceed one thousand dollars; but when the amount of the claim
exceeds the sum of two hundred dollars the trial justice shall, at any
time within ten days after the return date of the process, provided
judgment has not been rendered, but not thereafter, upon the appli-
cation of the defendant and the filing by him of an affidavit of him-
self, his agent or attorney that he has a substantial defense to the
plaintiff’s claim, and upon the payment by him of the costs accrued
to the time of removal, remove the case and all the papers thereof, to
the circuit court of the county or to the court of general jurisdiction
of the city, wherein the action was brought. The plaintiff shall,
within thirty days from the date of such removal, pay to the clerk of
the court to which the case has been removed the amount of the
writ tax as fixed by law, and four dollars on account of costs in said
court, and in the event of his failure so to do, the case shall stand
dismissed, and the plaintiff shall not be permitted to institute another
action thereon until he shall have paid the accrued costs and in
addition the same penalty as provided in non suits in courts of record.

On the trial of the case upon removal, the proceedings shall con-
form to the proceedings under section six thousand and forty-six of
the Code of Virginia as now or hereafter amended. For the purpose
of this section the term ‘“‘amount of claim?’ shall include any attor-
ney’s fee contracted for in any instrument sued on, but shall exclude
interest and costs in all cases. The trial justice shall also have juris-
diction of actions of unlawful detainer or entry in cases provided by
section fifty-four hundred and forty-five.

(4) Any civil action, within the jurisdiction conferred upon the
trial justice, may be brought in any county or city wherein the cause
of action, or any part thereof, arose, although neither the defendant
nor any one of the defendants reside therein, by warrant or notice of
motion returnable before the trial justice thereof; any such warrant
or notice of motion may be directed to a constable, sheriff or sergeant
of any county or city wherein the defendant resides or may be found;
but no such warrant or notice of motion shall be served or executed
in any other county or city than that wherein the action is brought,
unless it be (a) an action against a corporation, (b) an action upor
a bond taken by an officer under authority of some statute, (c) ar
action to recover damages for a wrong, or (d) an action against twc
or more defendants on one of whom such warrant or notice of motior
has been executed in the county or city in which the action is brought
or (e) unless it be otherwise specifically provided.

Where any such action is brought by notice of motion, such notice
shall be in writing, shall be signed by the plaintiff or his attorney,
shall contain a brief informal statement of the plaintiff’s claim, shall
be served at least five days before the return day thereof, in the
same manner as civil warrants are served, shall be returned to, and
docketed by, the trial justice before whom it is to be tried, provided
that unless said notice is returned to the trial justice at least one day
before the return day thereof, the trial thereon shall be continued
until the next regular trial day of said trial justice at the same place
at which the original notice is returnable, and shall be tried by said
trial justice in the same manner as civil warrants are tried by him.

(5) The trial justice shall also have power to issue and jurisdic-
tion to try and decide attachments where the amount of the plaintiff's
claim does not exceed one thousand dollars, and the proceedings on
any such attachment shall conform to the provisions of chapter two
hundred and sixty-nine of the Code of Virginia as now or hereafter
amended, except that when an attachment other than under section
sixty-four hundred and sixteen is returned executed and the de-
fendant has not been served with a copy thereof, the trial justice,
upon affidavit in conformity with sections six thousand and sixty-
nine and six thousand and seventy of this Code, shall forthwith cause
to be posted at the front door of the court house of the county a copy
of the said attachment and shall file a certificate of the fact with the
papers in the case, and, in addition to the said posting, an order of
publication shall be awarded and published in accordance with the
provisions of sections six thousand and sixty-nine and six thousand
and seventy of the Code of Virginia; provided, however, that if the
amount in controversy does not exceed the sum of fifty dollars, posting
of said order of publication at the front door of the court house for
ten days shall be deemed sufficient posting thereof, and publication
thereof in a newspaper shall be dispensed with.

After said copy of the attachment has been so posted, and said
order of publication so published and/or posted, the trial justice may
oroceed to try and decide the said attachment; and provided further,
chat where any such attachment is levied on real estate, the trial
ustice shall take no further cognizance of the case, but shall forth-
vith remove the same to the circuit court of his county, or the corpora-
ion court of his city, as the case may be, to be further proceeded
vith in such court as if said attachment had originated therein.

(6) The trial justice shall have power to issue the summons
srovided for by section sixty-five hundred and three, when the fieri
acias upon any final judgment heretofore or hereafter rendered was
ssued by him. In such case such trial justice shall have all of the
Mowers and authority, respecting interrogatories. conferred bv
hapter two hundred and seventy-two of this Code upon any court
yr judge mentioned therein. The commissioner before whom any
yerson is required to appear by such summons, issued by any such
rial justice, shall have the same powers and authority as if such
‘ummons had been issued by the clerk under section sixty-five hundred
ind three. All interrogatories, answers, reports and other proceedings
inder such summons, and also all money, evidence of debt and other
security in the hands of an officer, which are directed by any section
of said chapter two hundred and seventy-two, to be returned or
Jelivered to such court or judge, or to the clerk’s office of such court,
shall when the said summons was issued by such trial justice, be
-eturned or delivered in like manner to said trial justice. From any
order made in such proceedings by a trial justice which involves the
disposition of any money or property exceeding the sum of fifty
dollars in value, exclusive of interest, there shall be an appeal in
the same manner and upon the same conditions as in the case of
appeals allowed from judgments rendered by the trial justice in
civil cases.

Except as herein otherwise specifically provided, all statutes here-
tofore enacted, except section forty-eight hundred and sixteen of the
Code, conferring any power, authority, or jurisdiction upon justices
of the peace in any civil action or proceeding, shall apply in like
manner to trial justices appointed hereunder.

(7) The trial justice shall, within his general jurisdiction within
the territory for which he is appointed, have power to issue war-
rants, summons and subpoenas, including subpoenas duces tecum,
in civil and criminal cases, to be returned before him, and shall also
have power to issue and conduct proceedings in fugitive warrants in
accordance with the provisions of sections five thousand and sixty-
two and five thousand and sixty-three of the Code.

No justice of the peace or mayor shall, within any county or in
any incorporated town located therein, or in any city, for which a
trial justice is appointed, exercise any civil or criminal jurisdiction
herein conferred on such trial justice. Justices of the peace within
their respective counties and mayors or other trial officers, within
their respective territorial jurisdictions shall, however, have the same
power to issue attachments, warrants and subpoenas within the
jurisdiction ofthe trial justice as is conferred upon the trial justice,
and they shall also have power to grant bail in any case in which
they are now authorized by general law to grant bail and to receive
their fees therefor, but said attachments, warrants and subpoenas
shall be returnable before the trial justice for action thereon. Any
officer making an arrest for a misdemeanor within any county or city
for which a trial justice has been appointed, shall, upon the request
of the person so arrested, take him with reasonable promptnes:
before the nearest or any other available justice of the peace, or suck
other officer authorized to grant bail, for the purpose of being ad
mitted to bail for his appearance before the said trial justice.

The fee of a justice of the peace for issuing a subpoena for a wit
ness or witnesses in a case pending before a trial justice, shall bs
twenty-five cents for each such subpoena and there shall be no addi-
tional fee where there are more than one witness on one side of the
case. |
(8) Except as herein otherwise specifically provided, all the pro-
visions of law now in force or which may hereafter be enacted gov-
erning granting of bail, procedure and appeals in criminal cases,
relating to police justices in cities shall apply in like manner to trial
justices appointed hereunder, and all provisions of law now in force
or which may hereafter be enacted governing procedure, removal and
appeals in civil cases relating to civil and police justices and civil
justices in cities, shall apply in like manner to trial justices appointed
hereunder; except that in each county removals and appeals shall be
to the circuit court of the county; provided, however, that where a
judgment for money, rendered by a trial justice, is for a sum exceeding
twenty dollars, exclusive of interest and costs, he may stay execution
thereon for sixty days from its date, on such security being given
for its payment as he may deem sufficient, within ten days from the
date of said judgment; and provided further, that in all civil cases
wherein judgment is rendered by a trial justice, where the matter in
controversy is of greater value than twenty dollars, exclusive of
interest and costs, or where the case involves the constitutionality or
validity of a statute of this State, or of an ordinance or by-law of a
municipal corporation, there shall be an appeal of right to the circuit
court of the county, or the corporation court of the city, wherein said
judgment was rendered, and all such appeals shall be tried and judg-
ment rendered thereon, in accordance with the provisions of section
sixty hundred and thirty-eight, but no such appeal shall be granted
unless and until the party applying for the same shall give bond,
with sufficient surety, to be approved by the trial justice, to abide
the judgment of the court upon the trial of said appeal, if such appeal
be perfected except where such appeal is proper to protect the estate
of a decedent, an infant, a convict, or an insane person, or the interest
of a county, city or town no bond shall be required. No surety in
any such appeal bond shall be released by the appellants being ad-
judicated a bankrupt at any time subsequent to the judgment rendered
by the said trial justice, but such surety shall be entitled to make
any defense on the trial of the appeal that the appellant could: have
made, except the defense of bankruptcy; provided, however, that in
lieu of giving bond as hereinabove provided, any such appellant may
deposit with the trial justice, who shall issue his official receipt there-
for, such sums of money as the trial justice may estimate to be suff-
cient to discharge such judgment as may be rendered by the appellate
court on the trial of the appeal, in which event, the trial justice shall
pay the money so deposited with him into the court to which such
appeal is taken, by paying the same to the clerk of the said court,
who shall issue his official receipt therefor.

The clerk of such appellate court shall, upon receipt of the papers
in any such appealed case, and upon the payment of the writ tax,
forthwith docket such case in its regular order; but if said writ tax
be not so paid within thirty days from the date of the judgment, the
said appeal shall thereupon stand dismissed and said judgment shall
become final, and the papers in the case shall be returned by the
clerk of the appellate court to the said trial justice, for proceedings
thereon by him in accordance with the provisions of section sixty
hundred and twenty-eight.

(9) The said trial justice shall have the same powers in matters
of contempt as are conferred on courts and judges by the general
law, but in no case shall the fine exceed twenty-five dollars and im-
prisonment exceed ten days for the same contempt. From any such
fine or sentence an appeal shall be allowed as appeals are allowed
from such trial justice in civil cases, and the proceedings in such
appeal shall conform in all other respects to the provisions of section
forty-five hundred and twenty-three.

(10) The trial justice shall have authority to take affidavits and
administer oaths and affirmations in all matters and proceedings, and
shall have power to issue all appropriate orders or writs, including
the power to appoint guardians ad litem in all proper cases in aid of
the jurisdiction conferred upon him, but he shall have no authority
to take depositions or to take acknowledgments to deeds or other
writings for purposes of recordation.

(11) The trial justice shall also have and exercise, concurrently
with justices of the peace, the jurisdiction now or hereafter conferred
by general law upon justices of the peace in all matters in connection
with the adjudication and commitment of insane, epileptic, feeble-
minded, and inebriate persons, and the institution and conduct of
proceedings therefor.

(12) Notwithstanding other provisions of sections forty-nine
hundred and eighty-seven-a to forty-nine hundred and eighty-seven-o,
both inclusive, to the contrary, any city and any incorporated town
within the jurisdiction of any trial justice appointed pursuant to the
said sections may, by a resolution adopted by a majority of the mem-
bers of the council thereof, continue in the mayor or other trial officer
thereof all jurisdiction now vested in such mayor or other trial officer
pertaining to the issuance of warrants and the summoning of witnesses
and the trial of cases involving violations of city and town ordinances,
in which event the said mayor or other trial officer shall collect all
fees and fines provided for and pay the same into the treasury of
the respective city or town as now provided by law or by ordinances
of his said city or town.